Quotas led company to rush federal clearances, employees say

The calls and emails from top executives came toward the end of each month, former managers at the United States Information Service recalled.

The calls and emails from top executives came toward the end of each month, former managers at the United States Information Service recalled.

The company needed to swiftly complete investigating security clearances for the government in order to reach its monthly revenue goal, the managers said they were told. Finally, there was an order: “Flush” everything you’ve got.

The directive to give quick final approval of background investigations without reviewing them for quality — known as flushing — was sent, the managers said, to a branch office of the information service, a company whose 700,000 yearly security checks for the government have included those of Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency leaker, and Aaron Alexis, who police say shot and killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard last week.

In interviews this week, former and current information service employees detailed how the company had an incentive to rush work because it is paid only after a file is marked “FF,” for fieldwork finished, and sent to the government.

In the waning days of a month, investigations were closed to meet financial quotas, without a required review by the quality-control department, two former senior managers said.

The details of how its contract was structured provide new insight into the workings of the information service, which is now the focus of two federal inquiries, including a grand-jury investigation in Washington, according to congressional testimony and people with knowledge of the proceedings.

The federal Office of Personnel Management confirmed that it pays the information service on a piecework basis. “The vendor is paid upon the delivery of a completed case,” the agency said in a statement. People familiar with the contract said it was intended to give the company an incentive to be efficient.

The information service, based in Falls Church, Va., declined to comment.